


Right Here

by randomling



Category: Popslash
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-16
Updated: 2008-10-16
Packaged: 2017-10-11 05:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/109002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomling/pseuds/randomling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>JC and Nick finally meet in person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Right Here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [llamabitchyo](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=llamabitchyo).



"So here we are then," Nick said.

JC sat down on the other bed and planted his feet on the ground. "Here we are."

"Yeah."

This was so fucking weird. They'd been doing this online for months now, talking, _connecting_ \- even sex - but it was so weird to meet Nick in person, all the same. He was bigger than JC had expected, taller and broader, though he had the longish fair hair and winning boyish grin that JC knew from his picture. JC hadn't imagined such big, long-fingered hands or that imposing masculine presence; all the other guys JC had dated were smaller than him, of the same skinny-slight build, any bulk from the gym, not genetics. Nick was different from that. He was different in personality too, shyer somehow than he had seemed online. Maybe a little more... withdrawn.

Yeah, this was definitely weird.

"Um..." JC took a deep breath. "You want a coffee or something? I could..."

"Yeah. Thanks."

JC could still hear Lance's incredulous voice in his head as he got up to make the coffee. _So let me get this straight. You're driving to another state to meet some guy you know from the internet. Are you insane?_

Lance didn't like the internet much. No, that wasn't right - he liked the internet fine for checking his stocks and running his business - but he didn't trust what he called _online people_ in that snotty voice and he certainly wouldn't ever think of looking for a date online. Not that that was what JC had been after when he met Nick. No, if Lance wanted casual sex, he'd go out to a club and pick up someone he could see and taste and touch, make a full physical assessment before doing anything at all. Probably he'd check their teeth or something.

_It's only Connecticut,_ JC had said. _It's not like it's that far._ The little halfway-point town where they'd agreed to meet was only a couple of hours' drive from New York City. Nick lived in New Hampshire.

_I'm not even going to_ mention _the motel room._

JC liked talking to people online. There was something about the anonymity of it that let people really be themselves, get free of all the stupid petty stuff that held them back in what Lance would call _real life._ Something that let _him_ be his real self, too. Sometimes he felt like there were things he could tell his online friends that he could never say to anyone's face, not even people like Lance who he counted as brothers. People he loved; people who were strange and sometimes annoying, just like JC's real - well, just-about-real - brother.

He had a feeling Nick felt the same way, that there were things he knew about Nick that no one else really knew, for the very reason that their relationship wasn't face-to-face. Some things were easier to say to a computer screen.

"Thanks," Nick said again when JC handed him the coffee mug. He was going to sit down again on the other bed, but with a little breath he changed his mind and sat down next to Nick, leaving enough space for some comfort, but close enough that he didn't seem too distant. "Thanks," Nick said for a third time, and JC nodded.

"No problem."

Nick sipped the coffee, and JC sipped his own, and it stayed awkward for a little while, until Nick smiled and set his coffee down on the nightstand. "So," he said. "This is a little weird, isn't it?"

Funny how they were thinking exactly the same thing. Mind-meld, they called it sometimes when they turned to be typing the same thing at the same time.

"Yeah, a little," JC said.

Nick nodded and said, "I." There was a little pause, and he went on: "_Really_ fuckin' weird."

"Yeah," JC said, shaking his head as he started to laugh.

Nick laughed too, just a little. He picked up his coffee again, and it was easier after that.

***

They were both lying back on the bed, still not touching, five minutes later. The coffee mugs, both empty, were sitting on the nightstand next to each other, far closer than Nick and JC actually were. The mugs, almost touching; JC and Nick, not so much.

JC was starting to think of putting that right, except for how Nick seemed sort of quiet and maybe a bit skittish and he didn't want to push it. Funny to think how much sex they'd had via IM and over the phone, and they were here at least partly to do it in person, and yet it felt in some significant way like their first time.

He supposed that it was, though in some other way, just as significant, it wasn't.

"JC," Nick said very softly, and JC turned his head.

There was a silence while they looked at each other.

"Was this a good idea?"

"Yeah," JC said. It might be weird, but it wouldn't be weird forever. It was a new way of interacting for them, that was all.

"Am I what you expected?"

JC paused, then said, "No, not exactly." Best to be honest, he figured. "But, you know, in the good way."

Nick smiled, a different smile from the slightly-wicked grin in the photograph. This smile was soft and sweet, maybe even a little sad, an expression JC associated with late-night melancholy Nick. "You're not what I expected either," he said. "But in the good way."

"Cool."

They looked at each other again, not saying anything for what felt like a long time. It was probably only a few seconds of quiet, but it seemed like forever.

Then Nick said, "You know what _is_ weird?"

"What?"

"We spent all that time doing nothing but talk. Well, type, I guess. But on the internet, that's all you've got, just words." JC nodded, and didn't say anything in response, because Nick wasn't done. "And now here we are, right, and we're not saying anything. Weird, huh?"

"Very," JC said.

Another few seconds of quiet.

"Or maybe not," JC said eventually.

Nick gave him a questioning look.

"All those months, all those words," JC said. "After all of that, what's left to say?"

"I don't know. Maybe nothing."

JC rolled onto his side to look at Nick. Nick, who was big and blond and beautiful, still smiling that sweet smile, blue eyes he'd thought that he knew so well. But how did you know someone's eyes from one picture? Having the person right in front of you, in motion, looking into your eyes - that was a totally different deal.

He smiled back. They thought they'd had this figured out so long ago, but in person, the whole thing was completely different. Almost like having to get to know each other over again.

JC wanted to start. Here and now.

"Maybe it's time to let our bodies do the talking," JC said, and as he leaned forward to kiss Nick that wicked grin came sidling back.

They'd had good sex over the internet. Great sex, even. But by the time he was driving home again two days later, JC was hoping he'd never have to have cybersex again.


End file.
